On Buddhism

Gautama Buddha spent most of his life trying to find the meaning of life. He sought truth. What he finally came up with was: that one should love everyone as a brother, that we should deny ourselves to help others and that the only way our trials and suffering could be relieved is to help others. Is that true? Pain in life comes from our selfish desires and if we will just help others our problems will be gone? While I agree that we should help other and love everyone, I have to ask, where does that love come from? Why should we love them? Who gives us the ability to do good? Buddha never taught about God. So if it isn't God helping us, then who? In ourselves we cannot truly love. Many people are "good" people. They are nice and get along with people, but deep down they don't have peace and their goodness is only superficial. Their love is merely the carnal love for people who treat them right. It's true that some problems in life come from our selfishness and we know that all pain and suffering is a result of the Fall but not all come directly from our selfishness. The hurricane that killed 200 people, even many loving, selfless people, was it caused by them? The child who will never walk because of a birth defect, did his self-centeredness do that? And yes, our constant focus on ourselves is a problem. However, can we in our own strength overcome it? By what power do we change something that was in us before birth? We need assistance from Someone higher, an all-powerful God who can shape us into something better. Without God, all reason for love and goodness would disappear. A happy and peaceful life cannot rely on our own futile efforts. I guess what I'm trying to say is "Virtue without God is nothing."